North of Boston and Salem are filled with wonderful things to do and see

This popular century old year round attraction sits on 26 acres and is home to exotic animals from around the world. You’ll meet “Major” the Polar bear and an arctic fox, bald eagle, black bear, lynx and reindeer in Yukon Creek. There’s Boston’s only white-cheeked gibbon exhibit featuring monkeys, lynxes, snow leopards, Mexican gray wolves, river otters, and the capybara. There’s, flamingos, tamarins, sloths and Meerkat in Windows to the Wild. See jaguars, cougars, coati and falcon at the Treasures of the Sierra Madre exhibit. The Safari Grill offers kid friendly food and you’ll find gifts and souvenirs at the Peacock Place Gift Shop. Opening Thanksgiving evening is Zoolights that runs through the end of the year.

Make a splash with the family at the largest indoor water park in Massachusetts. A tropical indoor paradise where it’s always 84 degrees and open every day for every kid of every age. There are water slides, a lazy river, a splash pad and dip-in-the- theater arcade, private, cozy cabanas and lots more where they came from. Hold one of a kind birthday parties, group swims, or even buy out the whole park for a day. Then enjoy a night at the Doubletree Hotel Boston North Shore adjacent to the Park with luxurious bedding and jumbo pillows, flat screen television, on-demand movies and premium cable channels. Look for Coco Key Discounts and packages that include overnight accommodations, water resort access, and breakfast in the family-friendly TradeWinds Restaurant.

Jordan’s BeanStalk™ Adventure Ropes Course in Reading Massachusetts, gets you moving from one activity to the next to test your agility and balance. Make your way across this one-of-a-kind sky ropes course and head up 12 or 24 feet onto zig zag beams, crisscross angled rope ladders, and spaghetti hand lines. Walk the plank at 24 feet then travel out on a 6 inch standalone beam, pivot and return. Enjoy two levels of challenging ropes course, 30 exciting activities and for young adventurers, there’s BeanSprout™, a specially designed course for children 2-7. Adventurers must be at least 48" tall or 42" if accompanied by a chaperone. Groups of 10 or more paying on the same transaction receive a 10% discount.

Plum Island is an 11-mile long barrier Island off the shore ofNewburyport, with miles of public beaches and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, home to over 800 species of birds, plants and animals. Sandy Point State Reservation on the southern tip of Plum Island is a wonderful place to swim or explore the life of the tide pools (kids love this!). the Audubon Society's Joppa Flats Education Center is located on Plum Island Turnpike on your way to the island. Find chances to join bird watching tours and other educational programs for adults or the whole family. Join a kayaking excursion with Plum Island Kayak – entrancing!

The Minuteman Bikeway, also called America's Revolutionary Rail-Trail, passes through the historic area where the American Revolution began in April 1775. Built on an inactive railroad, the Bikeway has become a treasured resource, used by residents and visitors from near and far. Connecting to the Alewife “T” Station in Cambridge, the bikeway provides an easy way for bicyclists and pedestrians -- and, in the winter, skiiers -- to travel. The bikeway passes through Bedford, Lexington, Arlington, and Cambridge. Bikeway map.

Rocky Neck Art Colony in Gloucester is the oldest working art colony in the country, and has been luring artists to its picturesque shores for more than 150 years. Today the area is still home to many working artists and to galleries showing paintings in all media, as well as batik, photography, jewelry, prints, sculpture, ceramics, and fine gifts. A convenient walking tour of Rocky Neck, along East Main Street, includes information about three dozen galleries and studios on the Neck. A new book about the artists and history of the region, titled Rocky Neck Art Colony 1850-1950, by Judith Curtis, is available. 978-515-7004.

A visit to the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex is a wonderful way to be immersed in the shipbuilding culture of Massachusetts. The museum tells the story of a New England village that built more two-masted wooden fishing schooners than any other place in the world. Exhibits are housed in the old Essex Central School House, built in 1835. Features include antique tools, photographs, documents, and exhibits. Tours include video presentations and hands-on activities. A gift shop offers ship plans, maritime gifts. Hours: June-October, Wednesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; at other months, weekends, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 978-768-7541

Get that kayak into new and interesting waters! Managers of the Crane Wildlife Refuge off of Argilla Road in Essex invite kayakers to put theif boats into the water and paddle in and around this glorious salt marsh it is easy to land on or adjacent to the dock on Long Island 9see map).Explore the beauty and tranquility of the island refuge, which is maintained to provide habitat for wildlife and to preserve the property in its natural state. 978-356-4351

deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum at 51 Sandy Pond Road in Lincoln is a significant premier destination for contemporary art and sculpture, a mere 20 miles west of Boston. The vast grounds, covered with lawns and copses of woodlands, are the backdrop to a constantly changing landscape of large-scale, outdoor, modern and contemporary sculpture. Indoor space in the museum building also has exhibit space. The park and museum offer year-round activities, like snowshoe tours, yoga outdoors, nature tours, artist conversations, and screenings. Enjoy revolutionary artistic visions and stretch your muscles outdoors. Phone: 781-259-8355